-

RomWBW ReadMe \ +

RomWBW Introduction \ Version 3.6 \ Wayne Warthen (wwarthen@gmail.com) \ -06 Jun 2025

+07 Jun 2025

Overview

RomWBW software provides a complete, commercial quality implementation of CP/M (and workalike) operating systems and applications for modern @@ -170,8 +197,15 @@ these developer communities:

  • Small Computer Central (https://smallcomputercentral.com/)
    • -

    A complete list of the currently supported platforms is found in the -[Installation] section.

    +

    A complete list of the currently supported platforms is found in RomWBW +Hardware .

    +

    Description

    +

    Primary Features

    +

    By design, RomWBW isolates all of the hardware specific functions in the +ROM chip itself. The ROM provides a hardware abstraction layer such that +all of the operating systems and applications on a disk will run on any +RomWBW-based system. To put it simply, you can take a disk (or CF/SD/USB +Card) and move it between systems transparently.

    Supported hardware features of RomWBW include:

    -

    RomWBW is distributed as both source code and pre-built ROM and disk -images. Some of the provided software can be launched directly from the -ROM firmware itself:

    -

    A dynamic disk drive letter assignment mechanism allows mapping operating system drive letters to any available disk media. Additionally, mass storage devices (IDE Disk, CF Card, SD Card, etc.) support the use of multiple slices (up to 256 per device). Each slice contains a complete CP/M filesystem and can be mapped independently to any drive letter. This overcomes the inherent size limitations in legacy -OSes and allows up to 2GB of accessible storage on a single device, with -up to 128MB accessible at any one time.

    -

    The pre-built ROM firmware images are generally suitable for most users. -However, it is also very easy to modify and build custom ROM images that -fully tailor the firmware to your specific preferences. All tools -required to build custom ROM firmware under Windows are included – no -need to install assemblers, etc. The firmware can also be built using -Linux or MacOS after confirming a few standard tools have been -installed.

    +OSes and allows up to 2GB of addressable storage on a single device, +with up to 128MB accessible at any one time.

    +

    Included Software

    Multiple disk images are provided in the distribution. Most disk images contain a complete, bootable, ready-to-run implementation of a specific operating system. A “combo” disk image contains multiple slices, each with a full operating system implementation. If you use this disk image, you can easily pick whichever operating system you want to boot without changing media.

    -

    By design, RomWBW isolates all of the hardware specific functions in the -ROM chip itself. The ROM provides a hardware abstraction layer such that -all of the operating systems and applications on a disk will run on any -RomWBW-based system. To put it simply, you can take a disk (or CF/SD/USB -Card) and move it between systems transparently.

    +

    Some of the included software:

    + +

    Some of the provided software can be launched directly from the ROM +firmware itself:

    +

    A tool is provided that allows you to access a FAT-12/16/32 filesystem. The FAT filesystem may be coresident on the same disk media as RomWBW slices or on stand-alone media. This makes exchanging files with modern OSes such as Windows, MacOS, and Linux very easy.

    -

    Acquiring RomWBW

    +

    ROM Distribution

    The RomWBW Repository (https://github.com/wwarthen/RomWBW) on GitHub is the official -distribution location for all project source and documentation. The -fully-built distribution releases are available on the RomWBW Releases -Page -(https://github.com/wwarthen/RomWBW/releases) of the repository. On -this page, you will normally see a Development Snapshot as well as +distribution location for all project source and documentation.

    +

    RomWBW is distributed as both source code and pre-built ROM and disk +images.

    +

    The pre-built ROM images distributed with RomWBW are based on the +default system configurations as determined by the hardware +provider/designer. The pre-built ROM firmware images are generally +suitable for most users.

    +

    The fully-built distribution releases are available on the RomWBW +Releases Page +(https://github.com/wwarthen/RomWBW/releases) of the repository.

    +

    On this page, you will normally see a Development Snapshot as well as recent stable releases. Unless you have a specific reason, I suggest you stick to the most recent stable release.

    The asset named RomWBW-vX.X.X-Package.zip includes all pre-built ROM and Disk images as well as full source code. The other assets contain only source code and do not have the pre-built ROM or disk images.

    -

    All source code and distributions are maintained on GitHub. Code -contributions are very welcome.

    -

    Installation & Operation

    +

    Distribution Directory Layout

    +

    The RomWBW distribution is a compressed zip archive file organized in a +set of directories. Each of these directories has its own ReadMe.txt +file describing the contents in detail. In summary, these directories +are:

    + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
    DirectoryDescription
    BinaryThe final output files of the build process are placed here. Most importantly, the ROM images with the file names ending in “.rom” and disk images ending in .img.
    DocContains various detailed documentation, both RomWBW specifically as well as the operating systems and applications.
    SourceContains the source code files used to build the software and ROM images.
    ToolsContains the programs that are used by the build process or that may be useful in setting up your system.
    +

    Building from Source

    +

    It is also very easy to modify and build custom ROM images that fully +tailor the firmware to your specific preferences. All tools required to +build custom ROM firmware under Windows are included – no need to +install assemblers, etc. The firmware can also be built using Linux or +MacOS after confirming a few standard tools have been installed.

    +

    Installation & Operation

    In general, installation of RomWBW on your platform is very simple. You just need to program your ROM with the correct ROM image from the RomWBW distribution. Subsequently, you can write disk images on your disk @@ -251,16 +325,65 @@ review the Documentation -

    Documentation for RomWBW includes:

    +

    There are several documents that form the core of the RomWBW +documentation:

    +     +

    Each of the operating systems and ROM applications included with RomWBW +are sophisticated tools in their own right. It is not reasonable to +fully document their usage. However, you will find complete manuals in +PDF format in the Doc directory of the distribution. The intention of +this documentation is to describe the operation of RomWBW and the ways +in which it enhances the operation of the included applications and +operating systems.

    +

    Since RomWBW is purely a software product for many different platforms, +the documentation does not cover hardware construction, +configuration, or troubleshooting – please see your hardware provider +for this information.

    +

    Support

    +

    Getting Assistance

    +

    The best way to get assistance with RomWBW or any aspect of the +RetroBrew Computers projects is via one of the community forums:

    -

    Acknowledgments

    +

    Submission of issues and bugs are welcome at the RomWBW GitHub +Repository.

    +

    Also feel free to email Wayne Warthen at wwarthen@gmail.com. I am +happy to provide support adapting RomWBW to new or modified systems

    +

    Contributions

    +

    All source code and distributions are maintained on GitHub. +Contributions of all kinds to RomWBW are very welcome.

    +

    Acknowledgments

    I want to acknowledge that a great deal of the code and inspiration for RomWBW has been provided by or derived from the work of others in the RetroBrew Computers Community. I sincerely appreciate all of their @@ -359,7 +482,8 @@ let me know if I missed you!

  • creation of the Introduction and Hardware documents
  • Z3PLUS operating system disk image
    • -
  • COPYSL and SLABEL utility
    • +
  • COPYSL utility
    • +
  • SLABEL utility
  • a feature for RomWBW configuration by NVRAM

  • the /B bulk mode of disk assignment to the ASSIGN utility

    @@ -407,9 +531,40 @@ let me know if I missed you!

  • Les Bird has contributed support for the NABU w/ Option Board

    • +
  • +

    Rob Gowin created an online documentation site via MkDocs, and + contributed a driver for the Xosera FPGA-based video controller.

    +
    • -

    Contributions of all kinds to RomWBW are very welcome.

    + +

    Outside of the hardware platforms adapted to RomWBW, there are a variety +of projects that either target RomWBW specifically or provide a +RomWBW-specific variation. These efforts are greatly appreciated and are +listed below. Please contact the author if there are any other such +projects that are not listed.

    +

    Z88DK

    +

    Z88DK is a software powerful development kit for Z80 computers +supporting both C and assembly language. This kit now provides specific +library support for RomWBW HBIOS. The Z88DK project is hosted at +https://github.com/z88dk/z88dk.

    +

    Paleo Editor

    +

    Steve Garcia has created a Windows-hosted IDE that is tailored to +development of RomWBW. The project can be found at +https://github.com/alloidian/PaleoEditor.

    +

    Z80 fig-FORTH

    +

    Dimitri Theulings’ implementation of fig-FORTH for the Z80 has a +RomWBW-specific variant. The project is hosted at +https://github.com/dimitrit/figforth.

    +

    Assembly Language Programming for the RC2014 Zed

    +

    Bruce Hall has written a very nice document that describes how to +develop assembly language applications on RomWBW. It begins with the +setup and configuration of a new RC2014 Zed system running RomWBW. It +describes not only generic CP/M application development, but also RomWBW +HBIOS programming and bare metal programming. The latest copy of this +document is hosted at http://w8bh.net/Assembly for +RC2014Z.pdf.

    Licensing

    +

    License Terms

    RomWBW is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your @@ -441,20 +596,7 @@ assert their own copyright in their contributions by annotating the contributed source code appropriately. Contributors are further encouraged to submit their contributions via the RomWBW source code control system to ensure their contributions are clearly documented.

    -

    All contributions to RomWBW are subject to this license.

    -

    Getting Assistance

    -

    The best way to get assistance with RomWBW or any aspect of the -RetroBrew Computers projects is via one of the community forums:

    - -

    Submission of issues and bugs are welcome at the RomWBW GitHub -Repository.

    -

    Also feel free to email Wayne Warthen at wwarthen@gmail.com.